1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic musical instrument which has internal memories for storing various panel data by setting of tablet and volumes and, more particularly, to preset system which permits presetting of panel data from the outside of such an electronic musical instrument.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is a general practice in the prior art, for presetting several kinds of tones in an electronic musical instrument, to incorporate therein devices of the same number as the tones to be set, for storing the set status of tablet and volumes mounted on the panel. But this conventional method is defective in that the number of tones to be set is fixed irrespective of the skill of each player. For example, when the number of tones to be preset is four, it is possible to preset a total of five kinds of tones, including one that is set on the panel. It must be noted, however, that the number of tone variations required for playing music widely differs with players. A beginner tends to devote himself to accurately playing keyboards rather than to change tones, and hence he is not likely to feel the necessity of tone variations. On the other hand, an advanced player can play the keyboards at will and is likely to get sick of playing with monotonous sounds peculiar to the electronic musical instrument. So, he will change tones one after another by controlling many tablets and volumes on the panel which are control means for producing various tones to emphasize the theme of the music being played. But these switches must be controlled during playing and simultaneous control of them is difficult for the player to do. It is impossible, in practice, to produce entirely different tone variations by such control operation on the panel alone; therefore, a preset unit is needed.
Incidentally, with a view to cutting down the manufacturing costs of the electronic musical instrument, the number of tones to be preset in the electronic musical instrument is usually selected sufficient for players of ordinary skill to play ordinary music. In some cases, however, an advanced player may be dissatisfied with the fixed number of preset tones. Especially, in the case of playing several musical selections in succession, the number of tone variations involved is so large that the fixed number of internally preset tones is entirely insufficient for him. Further, such presetting operation in the intermission of playing will be a heavy burden on the player. And for instance, inputing of erroneous data or occurrence of an error in the inputing operation will charge the player with another task.
Accordingly, it is desirable to both the player and an audience that presetting of tone variations be finished before playing. But the provision of many presetting means in the electronic musical instrument would increase its cost. In this case, an input unit, such as a magnetic card, tape or the like, is indispensable and its maintenance and cost greatly affect the overall costs of the electronic musical instrument, imposing a severe burden on the musical instrument maker. Moreover, this is economically disadvantageous to a large majority of users because they have to buy an expensive electronic musical instrument having incorporated therein equipment that they rarely use.